Sharon has returned to the judging panel alongside Simon Cowell, Nicle Scherzinger and Louis Walsh

“Sharon is vulnerable at times but she is a tough girl. She makes no qualms about it — he is the love of her life.”

Simon also defends the other returning X Factor judge, Nicole Scherzinger, for pulling out of ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER’s Broadway revival of Cats to re-join the ITV talent show.

He said: “There was this to-ing and froing with Nicole. I think she knew we were interested. And then we heard she had been offered Cats. Maybe she took that because she thought ours wasn’t a genuine offer, I don’t know.

The former Pussycat Doll returned as judge on ITV's X Factor this year

“And then she had to tell Andrew and he wasn’t very happy.

“But as I said to her, ‘Look, you were working with us before so what is the problem?’

“He was dangling out, ‘You are going to get a Tony award’. Oh come on! Genuinely, this is the best I have ever seen her on the show this year and the closest to the real Nicole personality you will see.

LOUIS WALSH is also back, but Simon denies his claim that he admitted last year’s series was a disaster after just one episode.

He said: “That is bull****! Louis calling me became so frequent that I knew when the call was coming in and I would put him on loudspeaker and I would read a magazine and he would be screaming and shouting down the phone.